Lawnmowers, Waterfalls & An Emergency Change of Plans

Sun River, Oregon
Moochdocking



A little note- I'm still behind on the blog and I'm going to go out of order a bit on this, but we have been in Placerville since end of July as my Dad went into the hospital with not the best prognosis.  Treatment didn't go well and he would need emergency surgery that they didn't want to with his health what it is and his age. We were just about to cross into Washington and my brother was already there.  We all rushed home and made it back the day after his surgery.  He is doing remarkably well but still in Physical Therapy for maybe another week.  We'll stay as long as needed then head back out.  Not back to Washington though.  Maybe Idaho or Eastern Oregon, we don't know. -end of note.

With the 4th of July coming up, we knew we wanted to be somewhere quiet and out of the way.  We sure enjoyed our place on the river, but it was time to move on.  Friends we mentioned on a previous post told us about their neighbors empty lot which we could stay at.  So we moved about 15 miles away to Sunriver.

Our new place for the holiday.

Super nice of them to let us stay here.

Friends, Desi and Martin.

Connie and David, Desi's Mom.

Adorable Jasper, Indy and Lily resting on the sofa.

Mike and Michelle, Desi's brother and a good friend of my brother's growing up.  He's still Little Mikey to me even though he's tall now!  Wonderful family!  They had us over for dinner twice and we had a blast catching up, laughing, playing horseshoes and enjoying the company.

We drove back to La Pine just to see the Lawn Mower Races.  They put on a huge 4 day events festival.  We mainly wanted to see the races, but we also wanted to see the lumberjack events.

Many vendors, eats, quilt show and fun for the kids.

 

Ready, Set, GO!

Really fun!

 

Driving back Hoss hit 100K miles!  Wow that seemed fast.  Just as we started our fifth year on the road.  I guess 25K a year isn't bad really.  The last thing we wanted to see in the area before we move further north were a couple more waterfalls.  We drove through Sisters, back up to the beginning of the McKenzie Santium Pass.

Sahalie Falls at 120 feet.  Formed by a second lava flow 3000 years ago.

The color is amazing!  The turquoise blue of the water is incredible!

 

It was a 3 mile hike that meandered along the river.  Gorgeous!  Not bad at all except for the steep steps here and there.

 

Koosah Falls formed 3000 years ago by the first lava flow.

 

Tamalitch Falls.

 

Driving back to camp we stopped where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses.  I love to stop at these and hike part of it.  I've backpacked short sections of it over the years but would sure love to through-hike the entire thing!  Any takers? 

 

It was dark before we got home and a few miles away I noticed this strange light in the sky.  It stayed in exactly the same spot for the next 15 minutes and never changed.  It seemed to have a large round shape.  I asked Steve to pull over so I could get a better look and picture.

 

See?  Weird!  It was a donut shape.  It was a very large light far out in the distance that never seemed to move.  At least that's what it looked like to me.  When I posted this on facebook, some people thought it might be a drone.  Who knows?  I tried to call the nearby observatory, but they were closed.  Desi and her husband saw it too, so I wasn't imagining it.

 

Our final day we took a hike to Benham Falls.

 

Log Jam

 

It was an easy hike on flat ground.  Very popular with walkers and bike riders.

The river starts out smooth but just before the falls it moves fast and furious!

Might look harmless, but check out the 18 second video! That's a lot of water forcerd through!

 

 

 

Of course we need to check out the brewery on the way home.  The Sunriver Brewing Company was perfect.  Some tasty chicken wings and something to drink.

 

Sure hate to leave the greater Bend area.  What a great month.  On to Redmond for a few days so we can do some hiking at Smith Rock and visit the nearby town of Prineville.  Here we are at the Fairgrounds with full hookups.  The layout of the spaces is so clever.  They are set up with an extreme //// layout of spaces so that you sit so far back that your neighbor isn't really visible and your vehicle has a spot next to you.  We got a great spot on the end with some grass and trees.

Since we're here for Medford's fireworks which take place right here at the fairgrounds, we get a perfect view from our campsite.  So we thought.  I don't know if they had problems or what, but it was the lamest fireworks show we've ever seen!  They went off about 5 minutes apart.  Maybe all 10 of them!  So funny.  We finally gave up and went to bed.  So happy to have FHU as it's in the low 90s here!